Stories People Want to Read

SCZA raising an interesting point in his post about Lastings Milledge's love for the Rocky movies.
He asks why do newspapers save cool nuggets like this for their blogs, and print the same boring game stories in their papers.
The reason is a simple generational gap. The old time sports fan, as epitomized by Mike and the Mad Dog, doesn't care about the athletes. They just want to watch the games and want the players to be quiet and not have any personality. Mad Dog literally said the words "I don't care what Greg Oden or some 19 year old college kid has to say."
But the younger generation, the one that reads blogs and uses the internet, finds a peek into a player's personal life and personality to be interesting.
It's why Sports Illustrated changed the front of their magazine to feature more of their SI Players -- which has interviews with players, workouts, views on pop culture, etc.
It's why the younger generation enjoys the antics of guys like Chad Johnson.
It's why the younger generation liked when Lastings Milledge high fived the fans after a game tying home run, and the older generation rolled over in their graves.

This is an issue I think a lot about because I consider myself an old school fan who likes the games first and foremost, but I also like to learn about the players who play them.